Too Much Or Not Enough?
Not long ago a farmer told me that you’d be surprised how much you can grow on two acres. The conversation has been lingering in my mind as I have repeatedly been reminded of the somewhat staggering statistic that about 42 million Americans rely on government assistance to feed themselves and their families - that’s about 12 % of the population. It’s a figure that suggests both good news and bad news. The bad news is that 42 million Americans need assistance just to put enough food on the table. Let’s not even get into the question of whether or not the food is healthy and nutritious (chances are it’s not). That’s a lot of hungry people. The good news is that we have built a system of public assistance to provide at least some help to those who need it - and that system is broad enough to serve 42 million people.
Everything I see in America suggests to me that this is still a land of plenty. From where we have left the land more or less alone, to where we have built skyscrapers, to where we have cultivated it, to where we have drilled it, and mined it, and preserved it, and exploited it, this continent has given us a tremendous bounty, and the people of this nation - many and varied as we are - have achieved stupendous accomplishments here. Gratitude is the natural condition of a citizen of the economy of giftedness, and I claim that condition as my heritage, and also as a citizen of the United States.
But why, oh why, should 42 million of my neighbors go hungry? There is no reason for it in America, is there?
The story of God feeding his people with manna is found in the 16th chapter of the Book of Exodus, and it has something to say to us, even though it was first told long ago. The Israelites were wandering in the desert, having been led by Moses across the Red Sea out of their captivity in Egypt. But in the wilderness they were hungry. So, God said that he would send them meat and bread: quails and manna. It’s the manna that is most interesting, because God said that he would only provide enough for each day. “In that way I will test them,” God says, “whether they will follow my instruction or not.”
Moses directed the people as God had instructed him. They were to gather an “omer” per person. Never mind how much and omer is, it doesn’t much matter. And they gathered the manna, “some gathering more, some less. But when they measured it with an omer, those who gathered much had nothing over, and those who gathered little had no shortage; they gathered as much as each of them needed.” (Ex 16:17-18, NRSV). God intends for his people to be fed, and God intends for everyone to have enough, and for no one to have too much. This is a model for social structure: some may gather more, some may gather less, but each shall have what they need. Humans have proven to struggle deeply with such a simple proposition, which ought to be easy enough to institutionalize.
The story of the manna from heaven allows for the possibility of both abundance and scarcity. But God’s will is to correct the disparity. And although scripture doesn’t describe the precise mechanism by which everyone gets what they need, you can’t rule out the possibility of redistribution. The only way the math works is that when abundance meets scarcity, we do something about it.
Part of the way we effect change is by provoking dissatisfaction with the status quo among those, on the one hand, whom the status quo does not serve well, and also, on the other hand, among those who have been amply rewarded by the status quo. It’s one thing to scrape by with whatever you can eke out of your two acres, but what if someone tells you that you’d be surprised by how much you can grow on two acres, and then shows you that it’s true?
It’s become clear that the first phase of the 21st century is, in many ways, a phase of disruption. And it’s pretty clear that we have been overdue for some disruption in many aspects of American life. It seems to me that self-imposed disruption ought to lead to greater freedom and a more expansive idea of community,
In an age when we can produce billionaires, maybe we should remember how God fed his people when they were all in need: he allowed for them to gather “as much as each of them needed.” For many years I have been ending graces that I say before meals with the petition that God will keep us “ever mindful of those who have less than we have and less than they need.” I do not conclude my prayers this way because it is a nice turn of phrase. I conclude my offerings of thanks in this way because there abides in me a measure of dissatisfaction with the status quo that I want to do something about. And because the abundance I have so often enjoyed at my own table provokes me to consider the reality of scarcity within a very close proximity to wherever that table happens to be, and I mean to take that provocation seriously.
God confided to Moses that there was a test built in to the gift of the manna. It was a test of faith, yes - would the Israelites trust God to supply enough for tomorrow? But it was also a test that would reveal more about the people who purported to put their faith and their trust in God: could they be satisfied by God’s gift that provided enough for everyone, so that “those who gathered much had nothing over, and those who gathered little had no shortage.” Just as there is such a thing as not enough, there is such a thing as too much.
God has poured down many gifts on us in this country, for which I am deeply thankful. I wonder if there have been any tests built in to gifts that come to us from heaven?
This is a true saying and worthy of all men to be received.